Striker Chris Martin was on the verge of a move to Sunderland before he signed for Reading FC

Chris Martin was on the verge of joining Sunderland before penning a loan deal at Reading FC

CHRIS Martin signed for Reading FC after Sunderland cancelled negotiations with the Derby County forward, Chris Coleman has revealed.

The 29-year-old striker admitted he had several offers on the table but stressed he picked Reading FC because of the quality of the players and the lure of working with Jaap Stam.

Martin completed a deadline-day switch to Berkshire and will remain at Madejski Stadium for the rest of the season after falling out of favour at Pride Park.

But speaking at a press conference earlier this week, Blackcats boss Coleman launched a scathing attack at Martin and revealed he was close to playing at the Stadium of Light.

"We were a bit disappointed in the end with the outcome of that," he told the Sunderland Chronicle.

“We were told that someone wanted 48 hours, which turned into another 48 hours, and that was it – we just came away from that.

“It’s the opposite of the type of player we are trying to attract in terms of mentality, so that completely fell flat."

Martin, who has been on the books at Derby since 2013. He scored 62 goals in 156 games for the Rams and spent the majority of last season on loan at Fulham.

Speaking about his deadline day drama, the Scottish international said: "I had a few options myself, so it was about trying to assess the best option for me.

"With the quality of the lads here and the pedigree of the manager, there was a big pull for me to come here."

He also told Reading FC: "It’s a very good team, full of extremely good players.

"At the moment, as much as you can say it’s a false position for the team to be in, looking from the outside I know that the boys have the quality to be higher up the table and to have produced better results.

"Hopefully that is something we can do moving forward.

“Last season with Fulham, we set out to try and stop Reading from playing but you got the better of us.

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